


A Series of Small Things

by kaeorin



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Backrubs, Campfires, Camping, F/M, Friendship, Journey, Massage, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 12:50:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13248594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeorin/pseuds/kaeorin
Summary: Imagine giving Fili a back rub as you sit around the fire at camp. (I chose "Other" for the category of relationship because this is Fili/Reader and I didn't do much to specify that the reader had to be female. The reader doesn't have to be female! This should work no matter what gender you are, Reader!)





	A Series of Small Things

It all started with a tiny little rabbit.

It was just a little thing, skittering innocently across the trail in search of delicious plants or whatever it was that rabbits in the forest actually ate. You would have thought that the sound of the ponies’ hooves would have scared it off, but that little rabbit was made of sterner stuff than most. It held its ground. 

If it hadn’t been for Fili’s natural competitiveness, and perhaps his drive to show off, he would have remained unscathed, but he’d spent the better part of the last hour racing Kili down the path, teasing him when he fell behind and glowering on the rare occasions when he surged ahead. Some part of you was enjoying the show, to be perfectly honest, but...mostly you were just waiting for Thorin to snap and scold his nephews for making such a ruckus and making sure every creature in the forest knew exactly where the Company was travelling.

Well, every creature except for that one tiny rabbit, that is. Fili had just reclaimed the lead when his pony suddenly spooked and reared up on its hind legs. Fili didn’t even have time to make a sound, let alone to try to keep his pony from throwing him off. He ended up in a crumpled, groaning heap in the middle of the path. Kili dismounted immediately, of course, and went to his brother, but the rest of the Company looked upon the scene warily, wondering what danger the pony had discovered.

It was you who spotted the culprit. Its mottled brown fur camouflaged it nearly perfectly against the brush and debris on the path, but the slightest twitch of its ears gave it away. “It was only a rabbit!” You laughed, sliding off of your pony to go and herd the creature to safety. “Fili, your poor pony didn’t want to step on it and hurt it.” You stood quietly for a moment, watching the rabbit disappear into the underbrush, and then turned to look at him. He didn’t look pleased.

“So instead he hurt me,” he gritted out as Kili helped him to his feet. He made some kind of an attempt to brush the dirt and leaves off of his clothing, but quickly gave that up. This far into the journey, it was kind of a losing battle. 

“If you hadn’t been fooling around, you would not be hurt.” That was Thorin’s voice, and he sounded none too pleased. He maneuvered his pony through the other riders and looked down at the three of you. “Have you broken anything?”

Fili took a moment, ostensibly to run a quick inventory of his body parts, and then shook his head. “I’m fine, Uncle.”

“Good.” But he still sounded more annoyed than relieved. In truth, it was hard to blame him. Durin’s Day crept ever closer, and the mountain still looked almost as far away as it had when you’d first begun the journey. “I’d hate to have to leave you behind here. Get back in the saddle. We don’t have time to waste on this foolishness.”

Fili’s pony hadn’t gone far: at the moment, it was seemingly content to gnaw at a patch of clover only a few steps away from the path. Perhaps it felt silly at having been so frightened by something so small? Or perhaps that was your own imagination running away with you as always. Either way, you were the one who retrieved the pony and led it back to Fili. He accepted the reins with an expression that seemed half smile, half grimace, and you retreated to your own pony.

The pace that Thorin kept the Company at for the rest of the day seemed, well...excessively brutal to you, even knowing how time seemed to be slipping away. Fili did not race his brother any longer, and even fell to the back of the riders. You would not have risked Thorin’s ire by allowing yourself to fall so far behind, but you did catch yourself looking over your shoulder too many times over the course of the day. You were just checking on him, you told yourself. Or—even better—you were keeping an eye out so nothing could sneak up behind the group. 

Fili looked okay. His face was tight every time you looked back at him, as though he were so focused on riding that he couldn’t spare a thought towards animating his face. Or maybe he was in pain? But he seemed to be riding just fine and...well, maybe you were still just a little intimidated by Thorin. If Fili wanted his uncle to slow down, he was going to have to ask him himself. 

Once, you let your gaze linger too long, and he caught you looking. The change in him was immediate: he straightened his shoulders a bit and gave you such a wide, beaming grin that you looked away out of embarrassment. 

You did your best not to let yourself look back at him for the rest of the afternoon.

***

The sun had long since set when Thorin finally signaled that it was time to set up camp for the night. Regardless, everyone dismounted their ponies and set about completing the many tasks necessary for securing the site and preparing for the morning. You very carefully avoided looking at Fili, but even so, you couldn’t help noticing the stiff, awkward way that he was moving. 

After dinner had been completed and consumed and tidied up, many of the Company retired to their bedrolls. It didn’t take long before a gentle chorus of snoring surrounded those of you who remained awake. You sat near the fire, wreaking havoc on a scrap of wood with your little knife. You would never be able to create the finely detailed little marvels that sprang so easily from blocks in some of the other dwarves’ hands, but...well, you’d managed to shape a smooth curve out of this one, at least.

With a groan, someone lowered himself to the ground before the fire. Fili. Of course. You watched out of the corner of your eye as he tried unsuccessfully to massage his neck, rotating his head this way and that. His expression made it rather clear that whatever he was doing, it wasn’t helping.

“Are you sore?” You asked softly, but regretted it almost as soon as you’d finished speaking. Of course he was sore. No one made those faces when they were feeling fine. You tried not to roll your eyes at yourself and turned your attention back to the monstrosity in your hands.

“When the pony threw me off, I landed funny. Between that and Uncle’s attempts to ride the other ponies lame today, I think my back’s all knotted up.” Though you still did not look directly at him, you caught the way he gestured at your work. “You’re getting better at that.”

“Thanks,” you mumbled to the wood more than to Fili himself. “I’m still pretty rotten, though.” 

As kind as he was, Fili also knew better than to try to insist that you weren’t that bad, and what little conversation you’d been managing lapsed between you. He went back to his efforts on his neck. Your eyes kept drifting over to him. It wasn’t hard to imagine what he was feeling right now. It also wasn’t hard to imagine how little good his efforts were actually doing him. Whenever you tried to work out the knots in your neck (which came much more frequently now), it just...never worked well.

Finally, the frustration that you got from watching him grew large enough to overshadow your own hesitance. Without thinking about it, you got up from where you were sitting and moved closer to Fili. “Here, let me do that,” you said, your voice sounding far stronger than it probably should have. The two of you...you weren’t close. You were friendly enough, sure, and you trusted him the way you trusted everyone else in the Company—with your life—but...this wasn’t quite normal.

But if Fili felt strange about it, he didn’t let on. Instead, he let his hands drop to the earth beside him. “Uh...please,” he said, in invitation. “Thank you.” 

You put down your wood and your knife. Well. It was too late to change your mind now, anyway. So you drew in a deep breath, flexed your hands a bit, and then squeezed the prince’s shoulders. The sigh that he let out was confirmation enough for you that you’d been pretty much right about how much good he’d been doing for himself. 

After a few minutes, you found yourself relaxing a bit. The newness and strangeness of touching Fili like this wore off. As disastrous as you were at whittling, that was how _good_ you were at finding and working out the knots beneath a person’s skin. For the most part, Fili remained quiet, but the quiet sighs and groans that occasionally escaped from him were nice little assurances that at least he wasn’t hating the contact between the two of you.

Gradually, you slipped into what felt like a kind of meditative state. Somewhere on the edges of your awareness, you could hear the dull roar of the fire and a few of the dwarves’ low voices. Most of your attention, however, was on the simple repetitive process: find a knot, work the knot, soothe the muscle, move along. You weren’t really conscious of the passing of time, but after a while, you had gone about as far down his back as you were willing to go tonight. You returned your hands to his shoulders for one last squeeze, and then pulled yourself up onto your knees. Fili half-turned to face you.

“Thank you,” he said. “I mean it. It’s like you’ve got magic in your hands. I feel so much better.” His face was soft as he looked at you, but you couldn’t meet his eyes for very long. You felt a shy smile skitter across your face, but then lowered your chin and looked away. Coward.

“Don’t mention it. I didn’t mind doing it.” Was that a weird thing to say? Who knew. “I hope you feel better, Fili. Er...or that you keep feeling better?” With that, you rose to your feet and did, at least, manage to suppress your groan of frustration as you went to unpack your bedroll. He was lovely, that much was true, but why in the world should you turn into such a fumbling, uncertain mess every time he looked you in the eyes?

In truth, you suspected that you knew the reason, but...well, that was something to ponder another night.

***

Not long after you’d fallen asleep, someone shook you awake. That was, perhaps, the one thing on this journey that you’d never be able to get used to: someone having to wake up every few hours to take the shift on watch. You groaned quietly, though it was mostly to let the other person know that you were awake, and rubbed your eyes.   
“I’m awake,” you said, and immediately had to clear your throat. “Thank you. I’m up.” It felt like it took a moment for your eyes to start working, but when they did, it was Fili that you saw crouching beside you. Your stomach flipped before you could get hold of yourself. Really, now was not the time for this…

“You left your knife by the fire.” He held it out to you now, eyes bright but also somehow...guilty? You murmured your thanks as you took it from him and tucked it safely into the waistband of your trousers. “I hope you don’t mind, but I noticed that it was a little dull, so I sharpened it while I kept watch. You know, it’s very hard to whittle with a dull blade. I think that’s probably why you’ve been having so much trouble.”

Your heart swelled in your chest. “Ah, you’re very kind, your royal highness, but I don’t think the blade was my problem. I’ll be leaving the woodcrafting to the others in the Company. But I’ll find some other way to bring in some money, somehow.” You just...didn’t know what, just yet.

But Fili waved one hand through the air as though dismissing your words. “That’s alright. Whatever you do, that’s good enough.” But then he looked away, as though scanning the trees around you for orcs or something. Right. Because someone was supposed to be keeping watch. Because _you_ were supposed to be keeping watch. You rose up onto your knees and reached for your cloak, to pull it around your shoulders. Before you could do anything else, though. Fili touched your shoulder. “Don’t be cross with me, but I’ve done something else, as well.”

You tilted your head to one side and took in the sight of him. The expression he wore was not quite the same penitent, mischievous expression that Kili often donned just before revealing some grand prank, but it was close. Thankfully, you caught yourself just before saying something about how you hoped Fili hadn’t done anything to upset Thorin. Imagine, sounding so priggish or fussy in front of _Fili_.

“You left that little block of wood with your knife.” He lowered his eyes—it was, apparently, his turn now to refuse to look you in the eye. “I’m sorry, but it called to me. And you’d just done something so kind for me that I felt like I had to do something for you.” He reached into his pocket, then, and pulled out a little wooden rabbit, perfectly-sized to fit in his palm. You reached for it without thinking, but jerked your hands back just in time. It was precious. Somehow he’d even managed to make the wood look like fur. And you could have sworn that the wee nose twitched in the dancing firelight. It was darling, and you couldn’t help but smile when you looked at it.

Fili must have caught your hastily-abandoned movement, because he held it out closer to you, all but pushing it into your hands. “It’s for you. I’m no Bofur when it comes to whittling, but...I think it’s alright. And...you make me think of a rabbit, sometimes.”

Ah, brilliant. You let your hair fall into your face, in hopes that it would hide your burning cheeks. “Because I’m so skittish?” You kept your voice as light as you could, but mostly you just wished he’d go away now.

“No.” You still couldn’t look at him, but his voice sounded almost flabbergasted. “Because you’re quick, and light on your feet. And, hey, not all rabbits are skittish, you know. If that one earlier this afternoon had been a little more skittish, I might be in better shape right now. Rabbits can do some damage.”

He had a point. You felt a smile threatening to curl one corner of your mouth, and...you didn’t feel overly inclined to fight it? You turned the rabbit over in your hand, still marveling at the skill involved. And he’d done this just over the course of his watch? You shook your head and closed your fingers around the little totem. 

“I love it, Fili. Thank you. You should get some sleep. Morning will come too soon.”

“You’re probably right.” 

With that, he stood up, but then hesitated, as though reconsidering something. In one swift motion, he crouched back down again, and leaned in close to you, to press his lips against your cheek. You were too surprised to do much of anything in the moment, and even when he’d pulled away and stood back up again, you just sort of...goggled, at him. But you were smiling. And if the expression on your face was at all similar to the one on his, your smile all but threatened to split your cheeks. “Right. Um. Goodnight, then! And good luck! And...I’ll see you...in the morning!” He turned and began to stride towards his knapsack, but before he’d gotten very far, he tripped over something which sent him sprawling facefirst in the dirt.

That night, there was just something about the solid weight of that tiny block of wood in your pocket, the heat that rose into your cheeks each time you called up the memory of that strange, unexpected kiss, and the goofy, soaring grin that Fili flashed you after he picked himself up off of the ground, that seemed to make your shift on night watch...a little less empty.


End file.
